Entries Tagged 'Charity' ↓

You would think that people with less income are less inclined to give away their money, but according to a recent article on Yahoo Finance that is not the case:

The 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey shows that households with incomes below $20,000 gave a higher percentage of their earnings to charity than did any other income group: 4.6 percent, on average. As income increased, the percentage given away declined: Households earning between $50,000 and $100,000 donated 2.5 percent or less. Only at high income levels did the percentage begin to rise again: For households with incomes over $100,000, the number was 3.1 percent.

What is more interesting is that those who say they cannot afford donations are those who are mostly upper middle income. I wonder why this is the case. Are we in the upper middle class just more in love with our money? In the article they mention that religion is a big influence on the poor and it did remind me of the story in Mark where Jesus observed the donations of people in the temple.

“And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the multitude were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.’” (Mark 12:41-44)

I really love that story because it shows that the amount of money donated doesn’t matter, but it’s the heart that matters. If you feel that you can give, it wouldn’t hurt you to give. Some may say that it is foolishness for the lower income families to try to help others when they don’t have enough for themselves, but I think that a lower income doesn’t mean that these people have less sense in money management. Actually when you are poor you are forced to be frugal, and I have lived through that. You learn to get the most out of every dollar when you are smack in the middle of that environment. Just because someone has a lower income it doesn’t mean they have less of a surplus than those who make a lot more than them.

Another thing they teach in Christian churches is that God will provide and all money belongs to God, so giving away money isn’t a painful thing. I definitely believe that God has provided for my family so much more than I can ever give away. After all, money can’t be taken with me when I die anyway. I am really not surprised that the poor give away more money than the rich if most of them are taught the tenets of the Bible. I think generally the more money you have the more you become attached to it, and you manage and nurture it so much that you are afraid you would lose it. However, if you are poor, you are not afraid of losing your nonexistent fortunes. Additionally, when you are too blessed with wealth God gets kicked to the curbside so His teachings become less important. Money makes you feel powerful in a very human and worldly way and it is not always good.

Donating was hard for me at first because I come from a family that doesn’t donate very much. Since going to my current church I started to donate a little bit of money at first, and then a bit more, and then I sought out places to donate money to. I found that once you are willing to donate you can do it without feeling squeamish about handing out money. My parents say that my husband and I donate way too much money but really I don’t miss the money we give away at all. Since I don’t miss it I know it would benefit others more than it would benefit me.

Anyway, those are my random thoughts of the day. Have a great weekend!

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When I first moved to the United States in 1992 the country was recovering from a widespread recession and I was totally unaware of it since I was only nine years old. Then ten years later another recession occurred and I was attending college and once again lived through it without caring too much. Today there is a lot of talk about the coming of the next recession and I am sure it will happen again since the economy is cyclical. We are already seeing a slow down in employment and massive losses in the financial industry and the stock market has come down about 10 to 11% since the October high. So what will I do in this coming recession?

1. Stay Invested — I am not going to sell all my investments just because it is going down right now. Panicking and selling long term investments is probably not the best thing to do since I really don’t need the money right now. I will also continue to contribute to my 401k despite the volatile market. The reason for this is that eventually a recession ends and the market goes up again. Selling a stock or fund at a low is never really a good strategy.

2. Look for Bargains — I will be looking for cheap investments to buy if there is a recession. There are many great companies that will survive through a recession but their prices may be depressed by the general mood of investors. So I am sure there will be bargains. Additionally the real estate market is falling almost everyday and if there is a reasonable bargain I may purchase real estate. Basically, I will keep an eye out for things on sale.

3. Be Indispensable at My Job — The general consensus is that the tech industry is still fairly strong, but a recession could change the outlook rapidly and there may be a great Silicon Valley Job Massacre again. I think the key to keeping your job is to be good at it, and I will try my best to be “unfirable”.

4. Formulate a Backup Plan — Sometimes being a great employee is not enough and people still get axed because the horrendous economic situation of their company just can’t be salvaged. This is why I think everyone should have a backup plan to survive. I’m not sure what I would do yet, but I imagine I could be a consultant or just blog full time. I also have a pretty big emergency fund that could help through a period of unemployment.

5. Stay Debt Free — When times are lean, it’s even more important to be debt free because it may be harder to reduce debt with less income. I will make sure I don’t take on any debts I can’t pay back.

6. Cut Expenses — If our income falls drastically we may need to cut expenses. There are many areas where we can be more frugal right now, but since we’re doing fairly well in savings we’re not living an extremely cheap lifestyle. For example, we could move to a smaller apartment, but it would be less comfortable. However, if we really had to downsize we would be fine with a smaller and cheaper apartment. I think many people live in houses that are way too big for them and if times are lean that’s where they can save the most. They can rent out part of their home or just move to a smaller apartment.

7. Continue to Donate — I read an article some time ago that said charitable organizations receive less donations in recessions. This is understandable because if a lot of people lose their jobs they would be unable to donate. I will try my best to maintain my donations.

Anyway, my outlook for the next recession is that it probably will not affect me and the hubby very much and I probably do not have to change much of my lifestyle. If we both happen to lose our jobs I think we are still fairly well prepared to live through it. What are your plans for the coming recession?

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So my hubby and I just finished watching Beauty and the Geek Season 4. This is one of my guilty pleasure shows and it’s about a bunch of socially inept geeks and a crowd of gorgeous people working together to change themselves. The winners are supposed to be the couple that went through the largest transformation. This season one of my husband’s college classmates was on it. At first he would laugh at me when I watch the show and then he saw the lone female geek Nicole Morgan and said, “wait a minute, she looks like my friend Niky”. Then I looked up her bio and indeed she really is my hubby’s former classmate. It was quite amusing when he pulled out his Caltech yearbook and found Nicole’s picture and then commented, “they made her geekier looking for the show.” Since then he has rooted for Nicole to win, but unfortunate the final winner was determined by a vote and I think Nicole’s partner Sam was not very popular with the voting audiences so they lost as a team. The prize is $250,000 split between a couple, and as the host announced the prize he said, “a couple’s life is about to change!” My hubby and I both said along the lines of, “that’s not enough money to change their lives!” So after the show I thought about how much money people would need to change their lives. I thought about the events that defined the state of my life, and perhaps I was wrong to say that half of $250,000 can’t change someone’s life. Here are some ways someone’s life could change and their associated costs.

1. Get an education – $125,000 is enough for someone to go to college and get a degree that propels them into a good career. Or it could be used for a professional degree or vocational training that could be used to start a new life.

2. Pay off debts — I think $125,000 can make a big dent in most people’s debt. I truly believe that being free of debt that continually drains you is a good thing that can change people’s lives.

3. Get married -- Previously, I wrote about how much a wedding costs these days. Nevertheless I think it’s important to have a wedding without going into debt. Marriage is absolutely life changing.

4. Have a child — One of my friend is pregnant right now and another one had a baby about 1.5 years ago. The process of raising a child could cost up to a million dollars, but every mommy I have met say that having a child changed their perspective on life.

5. Donate – I sincerely hope that donating a bit of money or items every month or year changes someone’s life out there. A small donation of $20 can buy a flock of chicks for a family in need and feed malnourished children. It really doesn’t take much to change someone’s life by giving.

Everyone’s circumstance is different, but the important thing to remember is how we use our money. We don’t necessarily need millions to change our lives, but we need to be open to change and be willing to direct our resources towards improving our lives. I hope the winners of Beauty and the Geek will use their windfall wisely, and truly change themselves and the world.

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Charities receive a large percentage of their donations during the holiday season and today I would like to highlight a few worthy causes.

1. Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo — This is a charity that’s rated fairly high on Charity Navigator because they’re very efficient in using their funds. They’re still short on food and they are taking any donations at their website or at donation bins at Whole Foods, Safeway, Nob Hill, and FedEx Kinkos in San Mateo and Santa Clara.

2. Bay Area Rescue Mission — I just heard on the radio that this year the Bay Area Rescue Missions’s donations dropped 40% and they’re severely short on food and funds to accommodate hundreds of homeless for Thanksgiving. This is a large homeless shelter in Richmond where my high school youth group used to volunteer. They have an online giving form if any of you Bay Area folks (especially East Bayers) would like to help those in need in your neighborhood. If you’re within driving distance they’re also taking donated turkeys and any kind of food. They believe that this year there is a sharp drop in donations because a lot of aid went to San Diego wild fire relief.

3. One Laptop Per Child — my friend just told me about this buy one give one event at laptop.org and he bought one. This allows you to get the specially designed laptop for $399 and another laptop will be sent to a child in need somewhere in the world. $200 of the $399 you give would be a tax-deductible donation. To bloggers out there, I have confirmed that you can blog on these laptops and T-mobile is offering 1 year of wireless HotSpot service for free so you can take these cute little gadgets to Starbucks and blog. Additionally you may be helping a child somewhere learn about the world. This event ends November 26th.

As always, I still donate to Habitat for Humanity because they make having homes possible for families in need. As I write this I am reminded of Acts 1.8 which says “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” This is because I have listed the charities in order of their relative distance to me. Since I do believe that my money is from God I hope that the little I give would go from here to the end of the earth. Even if you don’t believe in God I still encourage you to help those closest to you first this holiday season. By helping those in your neighborhood you will improve the part of the world that is most important to you, and it is a win-win situation.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

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The honeymoon is officially over. The hubby and I have settled into our new married life together and our financial union is still a little confusing to say the least. We have a joint checking account now and we are paying our bills through that account, but it really feels like our expenses have gone up because I never used to see how much the hubby spent. It makes me wonder if marriage would make our costs go up or go down. I asked a few married coworkers this question and all of them said that after they got married they are spending a lot more than before. However, all of these coworkers are men and one of them has a wife that’s still going to school so he has to support her. So I decided to make a comparison of our current expenditures with our former expenditures here and see what would happen.

Here are the areas where we’re saving money:

1. Utilities — The hubby used to pay for all of the utilities at his apartment even though he had a roommate. I shared the utility bills with my roommates but it still came out to be $50 to $70 a month. Currently, our cable tv, water, and garbage are included in the rent so that’s also a big plus. Before we got married the hubby was paying for water and garbage also. I estimate that the utitlies savings would add up to approximately $1500 to $2000 a year just because we now live together.

2. Eating Out — We haven’t been eating out as often, but cooking isn’t as cheap as I thought. The only spare time we have to cook is on the weekends so the hubby tries to make a lot of food that lasts for a few days. Our food bills aren’t significantly lowered because we also hosted a couple dinners during the weekends. Hopefully we will save more in the future by eating out less. I estimate that we should be able to save $1000 to $2000 a year on food.

3. Gas – We’re no longer driving back and forth between our apartments. The hubby is also now ten miles closer to work so he’s saving much more on gas everyday. I am about four miles farther from work but it works out that our total mileage driven is still reduced. Our gas bill for the past month has been very small and I hope it stays that way. Our estimated savings for gas is about $400 to $600 a year.

4. Car Insurance — I wrote about car insurance a couple months ago when the insurance company raised the hubby’s rates. Now that we’re married the new insurance company gave the hubby a discounted six months rate that is about $360 lower! I’m pretty happy about that and our next insurance rate reduction will be the 25 year old discount. That’s coming up soon for the hubby and we should be able to shave some more dollars off.

So far, it sounds like marriage is great and we’re saving thousands of dollars, but here are the areas where we’re spending more:

1. Taxes — The marriage penalty is going to hit us this year and I’m not quite sure how much more we would be paying. If we weren’t married we would both be in the 25% marginal tax bracket since we both contribute a fairly good amount of our salaries to our 401ks. However marriage pushes us to the next bracket. The extra taxes we pay will probably wipe out all the savings we receive from living together. I’m not quite sure what the point of the marriage penalty is besides keeping families living on one income. From my point of view it seems to be such an anti-marriage and anti-women tax policy. However, one thing that could mitigate our taxes is our charitable contributions. It is possible that we may still remain in the 25% tax bracket, but it’s pretty unlikely.

2. Rent — Originally we both had roommates that shared the rent. Now we are roommates with each other so our rent seems like such a large number. In actuality it’s only $160 more a month than our combined rents previously. This basically negates the utilities savings.

We don’t have kids yet, but many people have already told me that children will increase our expenditures by quite a bit. So, my current analysis of our expenses is still sort of inconclusive because we are saving quite a bit, and yet it seems like we’re spending more. So to my single readers, do you think that you’ll save more money after you get married? And to my married readers, do you spend more or less now that you’re married? Where are the savings from and where is the extra money going? I haven’t really asked a woman this question yet because most of my coworkers and friends are men and pretty much all of them think that women are expensive. So, feel free to give me your input!

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